


nor—mal

by DT_Mars



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2018-08-20 09:04:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8243809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DT_Mars/pseuds/DT_Mars
Summary: /ˈnôrməl/ adjective. conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.





	1. Chapter 1

_one._

* * *

There was smoke everywhere.

_Everywhere_.

There was so much smoke that Garfield was almost beginning to forget what everything looked like before all of this smoke showed up. Actually, that might just be him going blind. Hell, there was so much smoke that Garfield was about to go blind— _shit, he had to get out of there, he was going blind_. He was also pretty sure that he could also feel the early stages of lung cancer settling itself quite comfortably in his body, with a pillow, comforter and a renewed Netflix subscription.

The fact that all of this smoke was currently being emitted from his moped threw him for a bit of a loop. It wasn't even a _real_ motorcycle, just a bicycle with a low-powered battery tucked inside of it. Moped: a motorized... pedal... thing. A motorized pedal thing. Right. Just not a _motorcycle_. Sure, it crashed straight into a telephone pole headfirst, but that didn't warrant all of this smoke that was threatening to take his life. Then again, he did have Victor play around with it and give it a bit more juice.

The bright blue and metallic (and possibly damaged) plating somehow managed to catch Garfield's eye despite all of the smoke, along with a faint, _booyah!_

All Garfield wanted was a bit more speed, damn it! Was that too much to ask?! How was he supposed to get anywhere on that stupid thing, with only twenty miles under his belt? _Per-fucking-hour_?!

"Gar?" A short cough. "Gar— _field_!"

A pair of small hands, much smaller and warmer and softer than his own, latched onto his arm. They pulled him out of the smoke and into reality, and hey, what do you know? The sky was still blue and just bit cloudy, that cloud of smoke looked a lot less serious now that Garfield was standing outside of it, and Raven looked much too worried for his liking. Her eyebrows were doing that _thing_ , the one where they knitted in the middle and made that tiny, little knot into her skin.

She looked so fucking cute.

Garfield understood how dire this situation was. They had just gotten into an accident on his moped and she was worried, worried about _him_. He should have already begun asking her questions; questions about how she was feeling, if she was okay, if she wanted to sit down, if she needed a burger and fries to calm her nerves. Normal boyfriend stuff, you know? But he was stuck thinking about how adorable she looked looking up at him like this. He knew that she couldn't help how cute she was, but damn it, he couldn't help appreciating it.

Garfield looked at her hands. They were still clutching onto him, holding him so tightly that the color of her pale knuckles was actually beginning to fade. A corner of his mouth curved up at the stark contrast of their skin. It was nice to have someone care so deeply for him—it was nice to have _her_ care so deeply for him.

He met her eyes and was instantly reminded of Normal Boyfriend Stuff™. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Would you like to sit down? Do you need a burger and fries to calm your nerves?"

One of Raven's hands released their hold on his arm in favor of combing her fingers through her hair, pushing the thick tendrils back and away from her face. She nodded and released a shaky breath. "I'm feeling just fine. I'm okay. I don't think that sitting would be good for me right now, thanks. And—"

She stopped.

A second passed.

Raven watched him curiously, a tiny smile pulling at the sides of her lips. A short and quiet chuckle escaped her. "A _burger and fries_ to calm my nerves?"

Garfield grinned at her disbelief, although this grin was a sheepish and embarrassed one. He raised a hand to scratch at the back of his neck while glancing at the diner that stood behind her. "Food always calms my nerves."

Her smile grew _just_ a bit and her eyes brightened, and Garfield swore on his life that he could feel the universe imploding around the two of them. This woman made him feel like a river of lava had erupted from his heart with the strength of Mount Vesuvius. She made him feel like he had the entire Amazon River coursing through his veins. She made him feel like he had the brightest star in the galaxy—the literal sun—sitting right on his ass and pushing him forward in every aspect of life.

She... Raven made him _feel_.

Garfield wanted to do the same for her—he _hoped_ that he did the same for her. Every second of everyday, he wished to do the same for her. He wanted to make her the happiest, most content, most satisfied, most unwanting, most loved—

"Actually, a burger and fries would be very good right now."

Her low and raspy voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he blinked in confusion. Not at her, but at where his train of thoughts led him.

_Love_?

"Huh?"

"A burger and fries; I'd enjoy that. Is... Is everything all right?" she asked after a moment of watching him. Her head fell to the side, tilting as she looked up at him. A tinge of worry was beginning to seep its way into her eyes and her eyebrows were on their way to doing that _thing_ again. You know, the one where they knitted in the middle and yadda–yadda–yadda. "Do _you_ need to sit down and eat some tofu?"

The little joke served to relax Garfield a little. "Everything's okay. It's just my brain. It's thinking things."

A look of concern managed to fuse with a look of amusement onto her face. "It's your brain. It's supposed to think things. Should I be worried about your brain and the things that it's thinking, as well?"

Garfield placed an arm over her shoulders with a shake of his head and they strolled their way over to the diner, their little accident forgotten for the moment. Love, huh? That was new. Although it certainly wasn't an unwelcome thought. It was a nice one, warm and toasty; feelings that she gave him. "Nah, I'll worry about it for now. I hate to see you worried or upset."

She slipped a hand underneath his shirt, the soft padding of her fingers drawing nonsensical patterns onto the cool skin of his lower back. It felt good—warm and toasty, like thoughts of love. If just the thought of love was able to give him such good feelings, he could only imagine what he would be able to receive if he gave himself over to it.

"I worry for you because I care."

He smiled.

"I want you to be okay. Are you?"

Garfield's smile grew. It stretched out so big and wide that he was sure anyone who saw the two of them approaching the diner thought that he was crazy. Or in love. Or crazy in love.

_Huh_.

"I'm okay," he answered. He grabbed the handle to the front door and tugged it open. A little bell _jingled_ above their heads as they stepped through the entrance and into the small, homely diner, before he led her to the counter. "Trust me."

Raven stepped away from the shelter of his arm to sit on a stool. She shimmied her way into the seat before reclining onto him as he stood behind her, resting her head against his chest. "I do."

She spoke without a moment's hesitation, not one ounce or even a little bit. And Garfield, he could feel that river of lava from deep within his heart explode. It left an everlasting spark of fireworks in its place and–and–and... _Shit_ , this woman had him standing there in that diner with his nose wide fucking open.

Garfield was so far gone. She _had_ him—and he was absolutely hers.

The entrance to the kitchen was practically flung open as a server stepped through. He was a big and burly man, one with a shiny, bald head and a thick beard. He gestured to the pair as he roughly chewed a piece of gum on one side of his mouth. "You two are an odd couple, aren't you?"

Raven nodded. "Yes."

And Garfield's smile continued to grow and grow and grow.

The server nodded. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans, taking a pen and a little pad out to jot their order down. "I respect that. What can I get for the odd couple?"

"A burger and fries," Raven answered.

Garfield hesitated. "You wouldn't happen to have any tofu here, would you?"

The server glanced at him with a decidedly disgusted look. "We got apple pie. _Vegan_."

Garfield beamed. "I'll take it!"

Raven snorted.

The server quickly jot the order down into the paper. He tore it out of the pad—just as roughly as he was chewing his gum—and spun on his heel to slide it into the little window that led to the kitchen. "A burger and fries for the little lady, and a vegan apple pie for the odd one."


	2. Chapter 2

_two._

* * *

 "Wanna get married?"

The question startled Raven. Although, she did have to admit that it didn't startle her _too_ much; not enough to make her shuffle away from her position under his arm in order to analyze his face anyway. She was much too comfortable to do that, and besides, it wasn't like she couldn't feel the energies that his body was subconsciously emitting after he asked the question—because she absolutely could.

_Calm. Peace. Serenity._

How strange.

It was strange to feel these things flowing out of Garfield; such harmony and tranquility from within. There was an inkling—a very, very, very _tiny_ inkling, at that—of apprehension brewing underneath that curtain of coolness, and this was so _strange_ considering what he had just asked her. His heartbeat had neither sped up nor slowed down from what she could hear with her ear resting on his chest like this. Not too long ago, there had been a moment in time when he would have been sweating bullets while attempting to ask her if she wanted to watch him play video games or not. She couldn't deny that it was a pretty endearing quality of his, this nervousness, and for him to be so cool about this was so...

 _Strange_.

Raven hated that she wasn't able to think of another word to describe this moment. _Weird_ was a very close contendor for second place, but honestly, she was adamant in her belief that no other word would do this moment any justice; nothing could persuade her to think any differently. This entire moment, it was all just so very strange— _especially him_.

The hand cupping her bottom squeezed, the tips of his fingers digging into the ample meat while the arm around her waist pushed her body closer to his.

Raven sighed, slow and through her nostrils.

_Mmh, that felt nice._

She was probably taking too long to respond, longer than he liked—or had anticipated—and he wanted to wake her up; remind her that he was still there, waiting. But she was blissfully aware of his presence; how could she not be? His aura was such a force, so energetic and in-your-face yet so relaxed and calm, all at the same time. It was an energy that worked surprisingly well with her own, one that wasn't very easy to ignore. It simply wasn't her fault that she was stuck trying to figure out where all of the strangeness was coming from. It was entirely _his_. If he was going to make this strange, then she was allowed to take as long as she needed to respond.

Garfield was probably so red-faced right now, biting into his bottom lip with his canines as he awaited her answer. His green skin wasn't supposed to be able to change colors like that, but it was such a sweet picture that her imagination was painting, one that pulled her lips into a little smile. Raven slid her hand underneath the thin fabric of his tee shirt, allowing herself to feel just a few of the many scars and indentations that coated his broad chest—and, _oh_ , he felt so good.

The hand at her bottom squeezed again, practically begging her to pay attention to him.

 _Mmh_.

Raven stopped.

Azar, that wasn't in her head this time. No, it was... It was out loud. It was a pretty quiet sound actually, one that barely managed to slip past her lips and climb over her throat. The little sound wasn't enough to warrant a disturbance, but it certainly was a signal—he was going to have to stop doing that if he wanted her to talk.

Or not.

Raven buried her face into his chest, not to hide out of embarrassment, but to smell him. His scent was of such a distinct and distinguishable nature, a strange mixture of sandalwood and freshly picked green apples with an underlying hint of cold sweat. She took a big whiff of him, taking his scent in before releasing a slow and heavy breath; she loved it.

"You're asking me to marry you like this?"

"Would you mind if I asked you like this?" he retorted without missing a beat.

"No."

There was a bit of hesitation, one that manifested itself both physically and audibly. "I—uh—I'm not asking you, Rae. I'm asking if you _want_ to get married, just so if I do ask you, I won't be embarrassed. Just in case, you know?"

"If?"

"Yeah. If." A pause. He cleared his throat. "If."

 _Ah_. That explained the lack of nervousness.

This discovery made Raven feel a bit better; it calmed her nerves and eased her brain, giving it a chance to rest from thinking so hard. It allowed her to fully enjoy resting in bed with him late at tonight, just as she had been doing before he had uttered those three words— _wanna get married_? It allowed her to enjoy his body and how _good_ he felt. He was a lithe and graceful man, one who had been hardened and muscled by years of training and crimefighting. She never understood how he managed to be so soft and sturdy whenever he laid underneath her, but she wasn't looking to find out as much as she was looking to enjoy it.

Garfield reached underneath his shirt and took her hand, pulling it out to hold it directly before his eyes. His thumb, as gentle and earnest as its host, spread her fingers out with soft strokes before it finally settled on its target finger.

Raven felt her heart do a little hiccup.

"Even you've got to admit that this finger would look a lot better if it wasn't naked."

"You think that this particular finger is ugly?"

"I think that this particular finger is in desperate need of some decoration. The sentimental sort of decoration."

The corners of her mouth twitched, itching to curve toward her eyes. She swallowed the chuckle down. "I wouldn't mind getting married."

"To me?"

"Yes, Garfield, to _you_."

"Nah, I need to hear you say the whole thing."

"I wouldn't mind getting married to you, Garfield."

"So, you would _like_ to? One day, I mean."

Raven didn't miss that little inflection.

"Yes," she answered. No hesitation or little pauses. Simply, _yes_.

Garfield released a heavy breath, one that she had not been aware he had been holding. It made his chest cave in underneath her head. His heartbeat finally switched up, a slightly unnerving mixture of both fast and slow tempos. She would have been worried had he not been the host body of several resting animals.

"You just took a whole _shitload_ off of my shoulders, Babe."

That little chuckle finally escaped Raven's mouth, slipping past her lips. She could still feel his thumb tracing the length of her fourth finger, slowly and patiently, drawing out dips and flips from her feeble stomach. It was no secret between the two of them that she had never thought too much about marriage. Raven hadn't thought about marriage at all.

No. That was a—( _ **n**_ ) unintentional—lie.

Raven had thought about marriage _once_. This was only because Kori had watched an entire marathon of _Say Yes to the Dress_ one Sunday afternoon, and felt compelled to drag Raven along with her on her quest to try wedding dresses on for fun. Marriage was such a _weird_ —ah, the second contender made it to first place—and slightly disconcerting thought. Yet there she was giving herself over to it, freely and completely uninhibited.

She inhaled the scent of his shirt, of him, once again. This must have been freshly washed. "You aren't asking now."

Garfield shook his head.

"You just want to make sure that I'm _okay_ with being asked."

Garfield nodded.

"So now that you know that I am, when are you planning on asking me?"

"I'm not too sure yet. I just... I don't want to do it at the wrong moment. It can't be. It has to be at the right moment. All I know is that we both need to be ready."

"Are you ready?"

"Pretty sure."

Raven's heart did another hiccup. She raised her head to look at him, and she wasn't too sure if it was a trick of the night or whether it was because her bedroom was so dark or not, but she could have sworn that there was a reddish tint touching his cheeks. That red against his green shouldn't have been there. It wasn't possible for it to be there, it shouldn't have been possible anyway, but there it was. Or so she thought.

The sight of him like this, blushing and flushing away, in the midst of such a conversation, it was making her dizzy. Dizzy, and a bit excited. She swallowed. "R—Really?"

"Yeah." His eyes grew wide as his brows knitted together, a face that read as slight confusion. A face that read: _duh, of course_. "I've been ready to marry you since I was fourteen."

There was a sharp pause, one that came from him.

"Okay, I apologize if that came out sounding creepy."

Raven wanted to snort, but a tiny smile slid onto her face instead and she rested her ear onto his chest again; over his heart. His confession was pretty nice to hear, almost as nice as the sound of his steady heartbeat. He pulled her body flush against his own in an almost vain attempt to fuse the two of them, his hand at her bottom squeezing for the third time.

A soft call of his name fell from her lips as her eyes fluttered.

Garfield simply placed a lingering kiss into her hair, a silent promise that he would make sure that she was properly taken care of as soon as they were finished with this conversation. He buried his nose into her hair and took a deep breath, and Raven could _feel_ it. There was something that he was holding back, something that was attempting to push itself out and escape from the prison inside of his mouth.

He shook his head, the tip of his nose tickling the tiny bit of her scalp that it could reach. "Are _you_ ready?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so. Not yet, anyway."

"Cool," he spoke into her hair. The feeling of his breath ghosting against her scalp and combing throughout her hair was a strange one, albeit not unwelcome. "Let me know when you're ready so I can ask."

A smile threatened split Raven's face in half. She didn't want to risk speaking, because she knew that she would laugh if she opened her mouth. So she nodded.

A long silence poised itself to rest between them, a sweet lull in the conversation. It was a pleasant pause, one that allowed her to seriously consider the implications and repercussions of this little talk. The tip of his nose continued to rub itself up and down the little bit of her scalp that it was able to reach as he took little sniffs, placing short kisses into her hair. _Pleasant_. So pleasant that she wouldn't mind being with him like this every night for the rest of her life with a fancy ring on her left hand.

Garfield inhaled. "Did you get a new shampoo or something?"

Raven could barely conceal her snort. _This_ was what was fighting to come out? "Same shampoo, new conditioner."

He nodded, took in another whiff of her scent and relaxed his head against the pillow once again.

Silence. _Pleasant_.

"Do you like diamonds?" he asked her. His voice was low and quiet, soft and almost afraid. It was a tone that rested almost directly underneath his breath as the movements of his thumb finally came to a halt. The padding of it was now resting on the middle of her finger, simply resting. "No, no, not diamonds. _Opals_. You like opals, right? Not—Not that I'm going to get you the ring _now_ —"

"Or that you're asking me to marry you—"

"—I just want to make sure, you know? Just in case."

Raven's eyes were stuck on the sight of their hands together like this. Stuck on the image of his thumb resting on that finger during this kind of conversation. A conversation about marriage— _their_ marriage.

She nodded.

"I like opals."


	3. Chapter 3

_three._

* * *

 

Raven was drunk. As fuck.

It was pretty damned imperative that the sentence be divided into two separate phrases, because quite frankly, it looked like coming to terms with his girlfriend's acute inebriation was about to be a bit of a journey for Garfield. So, he began this journey by repeating the two phrases in his head five times, with an inflection on one word each time. It didn't take very long for the phrases to start sounding weird, but he decided to repeat it a sixth time just to make sure; not only was he still confused, but the words didn't even sound like real words anymore. He would have repeated the same process aloud, because things just seemed to make much more sense after hearing them in your own voice for some reason, but his girlfriend was a bit preoccupied with his lips at the moment.

The kisses she was giving him were sloppy and messy and full of spit, a distinct contrast to the heart-stopping kisses she normally gave him. He, the changeling who possessed a DNA copy of every known and unknown animal in the world, couldn't find it in himself to disturb her. He was happy to oblige and indulge this new form of slobbery foreplay, yet he couldn't deny that there was literally nothing about this entire situation that made any sense.

...One more try wouldn't hurt.

Raven was _drunk_. As fuck.

 _Raven_ was drunk. As fuck.

Raven was drunk. As _fuck_.

Raven _was_ drunk. As fuck.

Raven was drunk. _As_ fuck.

_Raven was drunk. As fuck._

Raven was... _was_. Drunk. As. Fuck.

Wait.

Were any of those words real?

Garfield's brain was breaking. He could feel it breaking in half, right through the middle, and it hurt.

 _Ugh_.

Everything about those two phrases just sounded weird and not right, no matter where the inflection was placed, simply because she _couldn't_ get drunk. It just wasn't possible. This had nothing to do with her conservative upbringing or a desire to remain conscious of any and every decision she made, or even an aversion for the strong tastes and smells. In fact, she actually preferred the tastes and smells of hard liquor despite their inability to render her a piss-faced drunk.

It wasn't like she'd never tried to get drunk, because she totally did. The two of them had even dedicated an entire day to filling her up with all sorts of liquor, starting at around seven in the morning, just to learn how much she could handle.

Garfield got so wasted that he threw up on her carpet and couldn't get out of bed until 3 PM the next day, with no recollection of the night before, much less a carpet.

Raven, who seemed to be able to handle every drink poured down her throat, remained absolutely sober and angry about her invincible soberness—and her carpet.

The healing system within her body seemed to view alcohol as a threat and danger to her, and would vanquish any and every sign of inebriation before she could feel a thing. This made perfect sense to him, because it wasn't like alcohol had any health benefits. The only things hard liquor offered anybody was a fun night, a not-so-fun morning after, and maybe nine months worth of repercussion followed by eighteen years of child support depending on how trashed you were. The fact remained that her body worked too quickly for the alcohol to do its job, and she simply _couldn't_ get drunk.

 _Raven could not get drunk_.

See, that phrase made so much more sense and it didn't even need to be separated—but this didn't mean that it wasn't wrong, and that in itself wasn't right. It was... _off_ , and this was all because the couple had been approaching the situation all wrong the entire time. While hard liquor issued a full frontal attack on her body, forcing her healing abilities to get to work almost immediately, sweet liquor worked in a completely different way. Sweet, candy flavored liquor sneaked its way into her nerves and enveloped her within its fruit punch flavored cocoon before she or her body realized what was happening.

A drunk Raven shouldn't have been a topic to even think about, yet there Garfield was in the sanctity of his bedroom, getting drunk-girl slobbered all over his face by his lovely girlfriend: the piss-faced drunk. This alcohol filled version of his girlfriend was essentially the complete opposite of the sober one; super cuddly, no respect for any physical boundaries, and an intense love for kisses. He wouldn't lie and say that this amplified level of attention wasn't nice, because it absolutely was, but as she straddled him and filled his mouth with breathy giggles and sweet, messy alcohol tinged kisses, a sudden thought struck him.

Raven was drunk. _As fuck_.

Ah. The inflection on that last two words made it work.

Garfield pulled away from her lips.

Raven grabbed him by the face and dug her teeth into the flesh of his bottom lip, before sliding her tongue into his mouth and kissing him again.

 _Fuck_ , he loved it when she kissed him like that. The way she would tease him and get him all riled up before finally allowing him to taste everything her mouth had to offer got him excited. _She_ got him excited—in every single sense of the word—which was exactly why this wasn't a good situation; this was a very, very bad one. Having her shower him with kisses and hugs and overt love was definitely cute, and it honestly wasn't helping his hard-on go down. But right now, she was just as messy as her kisses and he refused to take advantage of her.

"Stop."

Garfield's voice barely even reached his own ears as he pulled away from Raven's eager lips. The weak command seemed to confuse her as she took a short moment to watch him through her hazy and disoriented eyes, so much so that she simply resorted to ignoring his request in favor of placing sloppy kisses all over his face. The way her soft, full lips passed over his skin made his eyes flutter a bit, right before she released a garbled hiccup into his cheek, a sound that reminded him that he was dealing with a _drunk Raven_ —something that shouldn't have even been possible in the first place.

A disgruntled groan rumbled low in his throat; as if _he_ wanted to be the one to stop his girlfriend from loving on him. He took her face into a hand and held her face away from his own. "I'm serious, Raven. We have to stop."

The corners of her lips pulled her mouth into a frown, a sight he hated to see. Her brows knitted tightly above her wide eyes as she struggled to speak coherently. "You... You said _stop_. I don't like that word. Why are we doing that word? ... _Stopping_?"

Garfield didn't even try to fight the smile that grew onto his face. She was so fucking cute. Why'd she have to be so fucking cute? He wiped the corner of her mouth with the padding of his thumb before placing a short kiss onto her forehead. "No sex."

Her frown deepened, but any and all effects were lost once that warbling hiccup slipped out. "No sex? I _like_ sex. I like sex with _you_. Why can't I do sex with you?"

"Because you're drunk."

"I'm... _drunk_?"

"As fuck."

"Drunk _as fuck_?"

"Exactly. _You_ , Raven, are drunk as fuck," he declared while releasing his hold on her face to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "I was just as confused a few minutes ago. And look at that, you still catch on pretty quickly even while you're drunk. You even got the emphasis on the last two words."

"That sounds— _hiccup!_ —family."

"The phrase, 'drunk as fuck', sounds _familiar_?"

"Yes." She stopped, blinked hard, and shook her head. "No, I was wrong. _Drunk_. That word, that sounds fermented—"

" _Familiar_ , babe."

"—and I'm not too sure if I like this word. What does this, _drunk_ , mean?"

"Drunk means that you're lightheaded and woozy, and probably can't think straight."

"Oh, _drunk_. I knew that this word sounded fraternal—"

He snorted, before placing another kiss onto her forehead.

"— _hiccup!_ —Is that what this feeling is ? Lightheaded and woo— _woozy_? Because I always feel like this."

Garfield watched her carefully, a brow arching with hesitation. "You do?"

"Yes," Raven answered simply, as if he should have known all along. She took the very tip of his shirt's collar between her fingers, examining the texture and fabric with a level of seriousness he was pretty sure a drunk person shouldn't have been capable of possessing. "Espionage when I'm with you—"

" _Especially_ , princess."

"—only when I'm with you, actually. But I'm always with you, mostly with you, so I guess that's most— _hiccup!_ —most of the time. I like being with you, did you know that?" She shrugged before he could answer. "I simply assumed that this feeling was normal. I like this feeling."

Another smile pulled at Garfield's lips. Hell, she was so cute; how much cuter could she possibly get? This drunk version of his girlfriend wasn't too bad, and this wasn't just because she was so much better at pillow talk than her sober counterpart. He snaked an arm around her waist to hold her close, his nimble fingers gently caressing and massaging the fleshy curve of her hip.

"Cuddles are safe," he told her. "And so are kisses."

Raven's eyes lit up. "Kisses everywhere?"

"Not everywhere."

She frowned again.

A chuckle spilled from his lips as he moved to place a third and lingering kiss onto her forehead. "But kisses here." He moved to kiss her nose. "And here." He moved to kiss both cheeks. "Here and here, and to your lips."

Their lips met in a sweet and gentle embrace, his stomach turning at the way she breathed his name against his lips. The most dangerous mixture of candy flavored liquor and _her_ filled his senses, threatening to leave him as intoxicated as she was. When he pulled away to gauge her reaction to this temporary set of rules, he found that her eyes were still shut while her lips were swollen to perfection as they curved into a decidedly drunken smile.

"I like your kisses," she muttered before a sudden giggle escaped her. "I like you, Pretty Green. You're so pretty, Pretty Green."

His thumb grazed the surface of her flushed cheek. "I like you, too. I really like you."

"Really, _really_ like me?"

"Really, really, _really_ like you."

Raven opened her eyes to count on her fingers, because apparently, she needed to see her fingers in order to be completely sure of the numbers one through three. "Really, really— _hiccup!_ —really. Three. You must like me a lot."

"I do like you a lot."

Raven rested her forehead onto his with a weary sigh, as if her head was much too heavy for her to carry for much longer. "Would you like to hear a storefront?"

Garfield's thumb trailed down to wipe her bottom lip, before moving to wipe her chin. He shook his head, their noses brushing. "I think you mean, _story_."

"I'm good with storefronts."

"What's the _story_ about?"

"The sky and the continents—"

" _Constellations_."

"—the _stars_ —"

"Jesus Christ, Rae, you can't get drunk again—"

"—you know about the _stars_ , right? The twinkling things in the sky? _Aaaaaall_ the way up there? I know many storefronts about them and how they got there and how they became friends with the clouds. I'll only tell you if you keep kissing— _hiccup!_ —kissing me. I like those. I like your kisses, almost as much as I like you. I really like you."

Garfield laughed, and he found his thumb grazing the curve of her flushed cheek once again. This shouldn't have been the most romantic situation he'd ever been in, yet there he was, falling even harder for her. She had finally become the piss-faced drunk she'd dreamed of becoming, and the best part of this messy and drunken experience? She was _his_ piss-faced drunk.

"You're so perfect, Rae," he sighed before shaking his head, once again. "And you're drunk as fuck."

A snort followed by a strange and garbled giggle slipped past Raven's lips. "I really like that word. _Druuuuuuunk_!" she exclaimed with another garbled giggle, right before she hiccuped. "Don't you like that word? I _love_ that word, almost as much as I love you, Pretty Green."

His mouth fell open. He was suddenly all too aware of the nonsensical patterns her fingertips were tracing into the hair that curled at the nape of his neck as her eyes bore into his own. It always caught him off-guard when she said that, simply because she didn't say it often; not as often as he did anyway. But the almost childlike sort of honesty that was swirling within her eyes made him smile softly as he watched her, because even though she was only declaring her love for him because she was a piss-faced drunk, she was still saying it. This was nice, really nice.

Raven's head fell to the side as she watched him, and a few strands fell over her eye. She shut it. "Did you know that?"

Garfield couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. His hand moved to push those strands of hair away from her face and behind her ear, where they belonged. Her eye immediately popped open, and his smile stretched. "Yes, I know. I love you, too."

She hugged him. "You're so smart, and your brain is so pretty. I knew you would know."

He returned the embrace with a sigh. "You've got a much weaker tolerance for alcohol than either of us guessed. You probably shouldn't drink this much again."

As if he'd said nothing at all, Raven pulled away from the hug and puckered her lips. He placed a sweet peck onto them. She pointed a finger to her forehead, directing him to place a lingering kiss there. She held her finger out and he grabbed her wrist, kissing her finger before nibbling on the tip. The gleeful laugh that she gave was beautiful and perfect and a bit messy, just like her.

She met his eyes with a hiccup and a burp. "I really like those, and I like you. I like stars, too! Did you know that the sun is a star? It's a big star, a really bright one that hurts my eyes sometimes, but of course you knew that. You're so smart. I like your brain, and I like your face, and I like you and your kisses. You're so cute and pretty, and I really like your hands, too. They make me feel safe, and your jokes aren't good enough to make me laugh out loud, but they make me— _hiccup!_ —they make me laugh on the inside. I love your nose, too. It's almost as pretty as your brain. You're so smart."

An almost pleasant pause wafted between the couple as she watched him expectantly, and he watched her with blatant confusion.

A sudden realization hit him.

Was _that_ the story she'd mentioned earlier?

He hesitated, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "I—uh—I liked your story?"

A bright smile lit her face up, before she hugged him again.

Right. She was drunk— _as fuck_. Of course that was her story.

"I'm so happy you like my story, Pretty Green. You're so smart and— _hiccup!_ —and pretty."

Garfield decided right then and there that this story was absolutely perfect, and that he wouldn't mind listening to her ramble on and on until she fell asleep. He placed a kiss into her hair and held her close. "You know a lot about stars. Do you know any stories about nature?"

Raven pulled away from their embrace to meet his eyes. Her own were wide, the perfect match for her hanging jaw. "Oh, I _love_ nature, almost as much as I love you. Your green skin makes me think of green grass. You're so pretty and I love looking at you. Did you know that sometimes, since I wake up earlier than you, I like to watch you sleep? You've got the prettiest face and prettiest skin— _hiccup!_ —and I love everything about you, even when you lose video games Agrabah Victor and Richard—"

"Against, baby."

"— _against, baby_ , Victor and Richard, and sometimes I cheer you on in my head..."

 _God_ , she was so fucking cute.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello all! I'm so sorry to announce this after an impromptu hiatus, but unfortunately, I've lost every bit of inspiration I once possessed for this story. I can't say that I won't be updating ever again, but at the moment, it really seems unlikely. I'm so sorry to everyone who was into this story! Thank you for all of your support during my time using this account! You guys are the best!


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